Tag Archives: Tickle Me Elmo

When The Actual Numbers Are Different Than The Report

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On Thursday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). It seems that the numbers that are being reported are not actually accurate.

The article reports:

National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) both received significantly more taxpayer funding in Fiscal Year 2023 than they had indicated on their tax returns, according to an OpenTheBooks report published Thursday.

On a tax return for the fiscal year ending in September 2023, NPR reported that it received just $40,000 from American taxpayers, which came from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP), a nonprofit organization that invests in public broadcasting, according to OpenTheBooks’ analysis. That amount made up just 0.04% of the $98.57 million in grants NPR received from “all parties” during that period, according to the report.

Meanwhile, at the end of fiscal year 2023, NPR had $388.5 million in total assets, OpenTheBooks’ report found.

Moreover, PBS’ tax return showed it received $22.74 million from the government, according to OpenTheBooks’ analysis. OpenTheBooks found that at the end of fiscal year 2023, PBS had $641.23 million in total assets, an increase of $52 million from the year prior. 

PBS CEO Paula Kerger earns $1,055,135 in salary and $113,526 in “other compensation,” while three other PBS employees make over $500,000, according to OpenTheBooks. Meanwhile, NPR spent $5.18 million on payroll for its officers and key employees, according to the report.

It’s amazing how much a corporation is willing to pay people when it’s not their money and they don’t have to make a profit.

I would just like to comment that if PBS had had good negotiators and good lawyers during the height of Sesame Street’s popularity, they could have set the corporation up for life with the royalties from Tickle Me Elmo, Rubber Ducky, Oscar the Grouch, and Big Bird. not to mention Bert and Ernie. A private enterprise would have done that. That is the difference between a government-run company and a company that needs to make a profit to stay in business.

I Love Elmo, But This Is Ridiculous

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Reuters reported on Friday that a “Million Muppet March” is being planned for November 3 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The event is a response to Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney‘s statement that he loves Big Bird, but it is time to stop subsidizing PBS with taxpayer money. The implication is that it is time to kick Big Bird out of the public nest.

I like Big Bird too, but enough is enough. If Dora the Explorer can survive without public assistance, why can’t Big Bird? Do you know how many “Tickle-Me Elmo‘s” I have bought for my grandchildren? How many Sesame Street books? Sesame Street coloring books? I realize that Public Broadcasting is more than Sesame Street, but it seems that with an income generator like Sesame Street, it ought to be easy to make Public Broadcasting profitable. What about the fund raisers they do throughout the year? I understand that ‘they do not do commercials,’ but what about all the names mentioned of contributors in between shows?

Anyway, I hope those supporting Big Bird have a happy march. I also hope that someone comes up with a few ideas on some small places to cut the federal budget. If we can’t make little budget cuts, how will we ever make big ones?

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Does Big Bird Need Taxpayer Money ?

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As a grandmother who has purchased numerous ‘Tickle Me Elmo” stuffed animals, Big Bird Books, and various Bert and Ernie dolls, and watched numerous fund raisers on PBS (and occasionally donated), I wonder why Public Broadcasting still needs my tax money. Well, I may have found a clue in an old news article.

In March of 2011, Jim DeMint posted an article at Fox Nation detailing some of the financial information of the Public Broadcasting Network.

The article reports:

...The executives at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes the taxpayer money allocated for public broadcasting to other stations, are also generously compensated. According to CPB’s 2009 tax forms, President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison received $298,884 in reportable compensation and another $70,630 in other compensation from the organization and related organizations that year. That’s practically a pittance compared to Kevin Klose, president emeritus of NPR, who received more than $1.2 million in compensation, according to the tax forms the nonprofit filed in 2009.

I will admit that normally I don’t care how much executives make–that’s between them and their stockholders–but this is a non-profit organization which receives large amounts of taxpayer money (much of which is borrowed from China and will eventually have to be paid back by the children watching Big Bird!). As taxpayers, we are funding this. Is this the best possible use of resources?

The article further points out:

 Meanwhile, highly successful, brand-name public programs like Sesame Street make millions on their own. “Sesame Street,” for example, made more than $211 million from toy and consumer product sales from 2003-2006. Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary Knell received $956,513 in compensation in 2008. With earnings like that, Big Bird doesn’t need the taxpayers to help him compete against the Nickleodeon cable channel’s Dora the Explorer.

 I had not considered the fact that Dora does not receive taxpayer money, yet seems to be doing very well. I have seen numerous Dora the Explorer backpacks, coloring books, and other goodies among my grandchildren’s toys.

It truly is time to stop borrowing money from China to fund Big Bird.

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